Books Slideshow: Make 8 Popular Performance Tools Work for You

Mission Statements

Problem: Sole focus on shareholders leads to impulsive decisions to get results too quickly.

Mission Statements

Solution: Include great products, happy customers and loyal staff as part of the mission.

Strategic Planning

Problem: Top-down directives are too rigid to adapt to changing business conditions.

Strategic Planning

Solution: Build in flexibility for short-term, tactical moves that respond to change while supporting "big picture" strategies.

CRM

Problem: It's perceived strictly as statistical depiction of behavior. Data results in attempts to "forcefeed" products to consumers.

CRM

Solution: Align CRM tools with "real" customer feedback to gain better insight into the human side of the equation.

Knowledge Management

Problem: Leaders assume that information input equals knowledge output.

Knowledge Management

Solution: Avoid information "just in case" overload with a "just in time" approach instead.

ERP

Problem: Moving customer and supplier records, product data and processes to a new system is time-consuming and costly.

ERP

Solution: Streamline transition by eliminating the irrelevant. Use a single ERP system and one database.

Business Intelligence

Problem: Complex interface discourages user acceptance and deployment.

Business Intelligence

Solution: Start simple and grow interface over time to engage those on front lines.

Performance Appraisals

Problem: Annual approach doesn't account for changing conditions, goals or standards.

Performance Appraisals

Solution: Make sure objectives are updated, and give performance feedback emphasizing development throughout the year.

Shared Services

Problem: Unifying processes across-the-board creates "one size fits all" results that disrupt valued, distinctive strategic operations.

Shared Services

Solution: Stick with shared services for transactions that are high volume, similar and routine.